Japan Post will collect mails less frequently from 40 thousand mailboxes in major cities starting from Oct. 16, it announced Friday.

In a landmark effort to make the nation's postal services more efficient and fiscally responsible through its full privatization, the Post made a nationwide revision of mail collection schedule for the first time in 13 years. The revision will have no impact on its delivery speed but reduces its expenditure by three billion yen, the entity said.

It will discontinue early pickup for the mailboxes that collect mail more than three times a day. Another 150 thousand mailboxes in the 23 wards in central Tokyo and some areas will be excluded from the revision. In Tokyo, route time is strictly scheduled in coordination with air transport, while for some areas, the firm plans to no longer operate sorting and delivery service due to distribution station reorganization.